In our last blog we covered how to identify burnout risks, and how to protect yourself at the recruitment stage by spotting which organisations or job roles might pose a high risk to individuals.
In this blog, we will cover some of the steps that individuals can take to lower their burnout risk and protect their mental health at work when they find themselves in a job role or organisation that may present a higher risk.
Perhaps the best thing an individual can do to avoid burn-out is to work for an organisation that has a robust Psychosocial Risk Management plan in place to support positive workplace mental health outcomes and protect their workers from chronic stress.
But how can you choose the right job? And what other practical steps can individuals take to protect themselves from burnout and feel good at work?
This is the first in a three-part blog series about change in which we will cover: The Psychology of Change, a Practical Guide to Change, and How to Manage Change (in both yourself and others) while minimising negative mental health outcomes and optimising positive ones.
Change is a constant throughout our lives, and change can impact our mental, physical and emotional health in a myriad of ways.
it can be helpful to separate all of the cultural and mental clutter that surrounds goal-setting and behaviour change and figuring out how best to do it, when and how you want to and are able to, and not because an internet personality who exudes the scent of bran flakes while they do burpees at 5am makes you feel like you would somehow be a better person if you could force yourself into the same habits.
Worrying can impact our mental health at work significantly, and has been the subject of sage advice for centuries.
Inspirational quotes about improving your mental health by simply ‘not worrying’ are easy to find, but much more difficult to put into practise.
Can you control worrying by simply choosing not to worry? And if so, how?
In this blog we will explain in simple terms what worry is, how you can control worrying, and how you can work and live your life despite having things to worry about.
Burnout: a state of mental and physical exhaustion, characterised by feelings of cynicism, depletion and distance from our work.
AI: the simulation of human intelligence by machines, and used for everything from data analysis to customer service and even creating art and writing romance novels.
Can Artificial Intelligence help us to beat burnout, and regain our sense of humanity at work?
Canada - that bastion of forward thinking - is currently working on developing public health guidelines for social connection to improve population mental health, and control mental and physical health risks. Bit like your five a day, but in chit-chats rather than fruit and veg.
Does that mean Friday night pizza parties are back on the work perks list, or should even form part of your Psychosocial Risk Management plan?. (TLDR: no. For more nuance, read on).
Burnout: the imagery in that word is evocative, and perhaps one reason why the term has become popular. Why? Because the picture that burnout conjures is so very much like the experience of it.
Burned out individuals keep going, like flames across a landscape, until they run out of fuel entirely and have absolutely nothing left to give. Not one spark remains. They are quite literally ‘burned out.’
How can we tell the difference, why does it matter, and what can we do about it?
During a panel discussion of women leaders that I recently attended, the panelists were asked ‘what do you consider to be your biggest achievement?’
Without exception, every panelist responded ‘just surviving.’ One added ‘just managing to get to where she was.’ They gave the sense of having managed to move forward and reach their goals, but of having to perpetually push through a current, whilst dragging a parachute, to do so.
What was holding them back and how can we recognise gender discrimination in the modern workplace?
Psychosocial Risk Management and the Cane Toads of Australia are both what we call ‘Wicked Problems'.’ That is, a problem which is difficult to solve because of complex and changing requirements that interact with each other, to the point that there is no single solution.
Think about your Psychosocial Risk Management process (or any other process that has been implemented by your organisation as a way to solve a problem). Did it solve the problem? Or did it create other problems?
What does a shared hatred of bad parking have to do with Psychosocial Risk Management within a world-renowned aeronautical engineering company?
Recently, a friend told me about the staff communications channel within their new job role. The channel includes a multitude of totally non-work related employee group chats, on topics ranging from a love of cats to photos and commentary of terrible parking in their neighbourhoods.
Why would an organisation - especially one with a very serious image - encourage what some might consider frivolous oversharing of personal trivia during company time?
The answer - (in part, at least): Psychosocial Risk Management.
